Thomas Ulsrud
| Thomas Ulsrud | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 21 October 1971 |
| Team | |
| Curling club | Snarøen CC, Oslo, NOR |
| Skip | Thomas Ulsrud |
| Third | Torger Nergård |
| Second | Christoffer Svae |
| Lead | Håvard Vad Petersson |
| Alternate | Sander Rølvåg |
Curling career  | |
| World Championship appearances | 12 (1998, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) |
| European Championship appearances | 15 (1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) |
| Olympic appearances | 2 (2010, 2014) |
Medal record | |
Thomas Ulsrud (born October 21, 1971) is a Norwegian curler[1][2][3] from Oslo. He is the skip of the current World champion Norwegian national team and his is also a two-time European champion and former Olympic silver medalist. Ulsrud is also the current holder of the record for most wins by a skip at the World Men's Curling Championship.
Career
Ulsrud has curled since 1983.[2] In his second World Junior Curling Championship in 1988, Ulsrud skipped Norway to a bronze medal.
In 1997, he skipped in his first European Curling Championships, finishing in seventh place. Team Ulsrud competed again in 2000–2003, 2006–2009, winning bronze in 2002, silver in 2007, and bronze in 2009.[4]
In his first World Curling Championship in 1998, Ulsrud skipped Norway to fifth place. After serving as the alternate for Pål Trulsen's team in 1999, he returned again as skip in 2006–2009, making the playoffs for the first time in 2006 and then defeated USA's Team Pete Fenson to win the bronze medal. Two more bronze medals followed in 2008 and 2009.[5]
Between 2007 and 2010, Team Ulsrud won six World Curling Tour events, namely, the 2007 & 2009 Lucerne Curling Trophies, 2008 Baden Masters, 2008 Radisson SAS Oslo Cup, 2009 Swiss Cup Basel, and 2009 Bern Open.[3]
At the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Team Ulsrud attracted worldwide attention, not only for introducing Loudmouth Golf's colourful harlequin pants to the arena,[6] but also for winning the silver medal after the final game against Canada's Team Kevin Martin.[7]
Immediately at the start of the 2010 World Curling Championship in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Ulsrud had to return home for family reasons. With Torger Nergård acting as skip, Ulsrud's teammates took first place at the end of round-robin games (10–1 score) and won the silver medal.[8]
Team Ulsrud began the 2010-11 curling season by winning their first European Curling Championship gold medal in Champéry, Switzerland.[9] The team topped the season off by finishing fourth at the 2011 Ford World Men's Curling Championship.
The rink won a second straight European Championships by winning the gold medal at the 2011 European Curling Championships. Later that season they would once again finish 4th at the 2012 World Men's Curling Championship. That season, the team won one WCT event, the 2012 European Masters.
The Ulsrud rink would continue their domination at the European championship by winning the silver medal at both the 2012 and 2013 events. They were less successful at the 2013 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, finishing in 5th place. The rink represented Norway once again at the 2014 Winter Olympics, where they finished 5th, with a 5-5 record. They lost in a tie-breaker match to Great Britain, skipped by David Murdoch. On the World Curling Tour, the team won one event in 2013-14, the 2013 Swiss Cup Basel. The team capped off their season by winning a gold medal at the 2014 World Men's Curling Championship.
The World champion Ulsrud rink began the 2014–15 curling season by winning the first WCT event of the year, the 2014 Baden Masters.
Personal life
Ulsrud is married to Elin Grødal, and they have one son. He is employed as a manager.[10]
Teams
Grand Slam record
| Key | |
|---|---|
| C | Champion |
| F | Lost in Final |
| SF | Lost in Semifinal |
| QF | Lost in Quarterfinals |
| R16 | Lost in the round of 16 |
| Q | Did not advance to playoffs |
| T2 | Played in Tier 2 event |
| DNP | Did not participate in event |
| N/A | Not a Grand Slam event that season |
| Event | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | 2011–12 | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | DNP | DNP | Q | SF | Q | Q | Q | Q | Q | Q | DNP |
| Tour Challenge | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | DNP | SF |
| The National | Q | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | QF | Q | DNP | DNP | QF | |
| Canadian Open | Q | DNP | QF | SF | Q | DNP | DNP | Q | DNP | DNP | |
| Players' Championships | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | QF | DNP | DNP | DNP |
References
- ^ "About Team Ulsrud". TeamUlsrud.com. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
- ^ a b "Thomas Ulsrud, Curling" (Curling > Athletes). Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Retrieved 26 November 2010 from http://web.archive.org/.
- ^ a b "Thomas Ulsrud" (Profiles > Events). ASHAM World Curling Tour. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
- ^ "Results/Statistics" (Competitions > European Championships). European Curling Federation. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
- ^ "Championships". World Curling Federation Results and Statistics database. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
- ^ "The Conversation: pants from the curlers of Norway (Diane Sawyer chats with Christoffer Svae). ABC News (Video). 26 February 2010.
- ^ "Men's Gold Medal Game" (Curling Schedule > Results). Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. 27 February 2010.
- ^ "Capitol One World Men's Championship – Day 6" (News). World Curling Federation. 8 April 2010.
- ^ "Results/Statistics" (Competitions > European Championships). European Curling Federation. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
- ^ http://cloudfront6.curling.ca/2015worldmen-en/files/2015/03/EYE-OPENER-FRIDAY-ALL.pdf
External links
- Official homepage of Team Ulsrud
- Thomas Ulsrud at World Curling
Thomas Ulsrud at the World Curling Tour (archived)
- 2014 Olympic profile
- Complete coverages of Team Norway's Olympics performances at the official Vancouver Olympic Games 2010 Channel
- Thomas Ulsrud and Håvard Vad Petersson interviewed on Eurosport Norge. "EurosportNorge møter curlinggutta". 4 December 2009.
- Team Norway interviewed on Grand Slam of Curling. Olympic Curling – Team Norway. 17 February 2010.
- 1971 births
- Living people
- Norwegian curlers
- Sportspeople from Oslo
- Curlers at the 2010 Winter Olympics
- Curlers at the 2014 Winter Olympics
- Olympic curlers of Norway
- Olympic silver medalists for Norway
- Olympic medalists in curling
- Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics
- World curling champions
- Norwegian sportsmen
- Male curlers